The phrase ‘you have to give to get’ is kind of cliché for a reason, even as Yankees GM Brian Cashman used it to describe his pain in dealing some of the prospects he gave up at this year’s trade deadline – nothing’s free, and sometimes, you have to hope a tough cost is worth the anguish.
Cashman wouldn’t say Thursday night whether anyone was ‘untouchable,’ saying only that ‘some were more touchable than others’ and they were ‘trying to stay away from some guys more than others.’
And that leads to the most MLB-ready prospect not on the battery, one Spencer Jones, who, true to Cashman’s words, was somewhere between ‘trying to be stayed away from’ and ‘less touchable than others.’
“Spencer has had a great year and honored his draft position. He’s done an amazing job as he’s closed the gap on his development to the big leagues, that is in his future,” Cashman said, sort of tiptoeing around the question of Jones being untouchable. “We’ve always been excited by his potential, and it’s a pleasure to have seen him put together the year he’s having. We’re Looking forward to watching that journey continue.”
One who wasn’t untouchable was the other top position player prospect at Triple-A, catcher Rafael Flores, who was sent to Pittsburgh in the David Bednar deal and was one of three catchers dealt on the day.
Flores, whom Pirates GM Ben Cherington said was a player they preferred even as they had a choice of other players ranked higher, was having a tremendous year at Double-A Somerset before his call-up to Triple-A two weeks ago, and yeah, that one stung for Cashman.
“That was difficult. He’s going to have a bright future, and that’s why a lot of teams were asking about him,” Cashman said. “He’s a big-leaguer, and one they’re going to enjoy now. There were certainly lanes for him to push in here, but that’s where the rubber meets the road, and you have to pick a lane. I credit our scouting and development, and the player himself, for putting him in such a great position to be considered.”
And then there’s the former top prospects, like Oswald Peraza, who twice was a consensus Top 65 prospect (before 2022 and 2023) but heads to the Angels now for a rookie-ball player and international bonus money after posting a .152/.212/.241 slash line this year.
He was really the best option to back up Anthony Volpe at short, but even with Volpe’s struggles, hadn’t done much to really make himself an actual option – so enter Jose Caballero, who is a shortstop by trade but has played everywhere but first and catcher in the big leagues.
Oh, and in addition to also having an option, he led the AL in steals last year and leads MLB in steals so far this year, so he’s a definite upgrade over what Peraza had brought to the table.
“We try to improve on all aspects of the roster, and we just felt like the flexibility he provides is a little bit more than what Peraza was providing for our manager,” Cashman said when asked if Volpe’s recent play played into the Caballero deal. “He’s certainly a dynamic player, and I watched (Wednesday’s) game wishing Boonie had a player he could shoot as a pinch-runner to swipe a bag. He offers smore flexibility and choices with his player profile than what Peraza was providing.”
They did that with three bench/platoon bats, a new third baseman, and three back-end relievers, all while keeping the tippy-top players on the farm…but, again, that doesn’t mean that Cashman won’t perhaps regret having to give up one of the many he unloaded at some point in the future.
“We made some tough decisions to part with some really quality baseball payers and people to try to improve this major-league team,” the GM said. “The deadline forces teams to make a lot of decisions, but we will have a shot to defend the AL title, so we tried to make every decision based on that.”